Extending LAN with mesh

[bktech]

This may be a beginner question but I would like to understand the reason as to why it doesn't work. We have a bridge with two MR70's and on the remote side we have a MS125. We wanted to put a MR33 on the remote side for wireless. Why is a layer 3 switch required to have a AP connected to the switch if everything is on the same VLAN? 

Thanks for the help. 

[alemabrahao]

Due to each hop reducing available bandwidth in half, it is recommended to use a layer 3 device in order to support at least one gateway MR on the remote side of the wireless bridge as opposed to using either of the bridge APs as the gateway for the multi-hop mesh.

Access points that are intended to form a link via mesh should not be connected to any cloud managed switches, as the switch will not be able to reach beyond the gateway MR. Access points that are participating in a multi-hop mesh do not support wired clients. IP communication outside of the proprietary mesh traffic will be blocked by the MR repeater, thus remote IP access to switches will be lost. In order to mix IP and mesh extension, a router would need to be introduced as described above.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Wi-Fi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Extending_the_LAN_with_a_Wireles...

[bktech]

Its just one hop from building a to b. We already currently have a MS125 directly connected to the MR70 repeater in building b. My question is why can't I connect an additional AP to that switch. (even if everything lets say is on VLAN 1) why is a Layer 3 required? Is it due to having wired and wireless clients? I understand the repeaters only transfer untagged traffic but if there is only one VLAN why doesn't it work?

[alemabrahao]

If it is only for a wireless connection, no switch is necessary, the case is that before closing the mesh you must let the AP register on the dashboard at least once to download the settings.

After that it should work as a repeater.

I use an AP on a stock that doesn't even have a switch and it works perfectly.

Good luck.

[bktech]

We would like to have a switch for network devices that require POE (VOIP) but not all clients are going to be hardwired (reason we want an WAP)

[alemabrahao]

It's a requirement to have a L3 device when you use Multi-Hop Meshing, the documentation is clear about it.

[Ryan_Miles]

The OP isn't trying to do multi hop mesh. They're trying to use a wired AP on the switch connected to the repeater AP like this topology. By default this fails when the repeater sees another AP on its LAN side trying to get DHCP.

I've been running a quick test here in the lab and if I give the remote side wired AP a static IP everything seems fine. Gateway AP is up, repeater is up, switch is up, remote side wired AP is up, client is connected to the SSID broadcast from that remote side wired AP.

OP you may want to test that out and see how if it works for you. Obviously in this config the remote side switch, AP, and clients all end up on the single VLAN mapped to the mesh AP wired port (the SSID listed under the network-wide page section called "Clients wired directly to Meraki access points").

Also if for some reason the static IP stopped working it would revert to DHCP and possibly take the remote side switch offline/unreachable. 

[alemabrahao]

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Wi-Fi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Extending_the_LAN_with_a_Wireles...

[bktech]

Thank you for your help. So although it it possible to make this work it’s more ideal to have a L3 switch to allow for multiple VLAN’s as only one VLAN is allowed over the bridge due to it being untagged traffic?

[Ryan_Miles]

That’s another scenario I can test tomorrow using multi VLAN mesh. 

But yes to adhere to official documentation this topology would require a L3 switch on the remote side.